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January will mark the 15 year anniversary of the "official launch" of Masters Touch! 

Our very first job was in November 2006, painting an addition.  I've taken some time out of my day to reflect on all the good times and the bad times, while everyone here at Masters Touch continues to double their efforts for a bright and prosperous future.

Recently, I found myself going through our database - which is nearing a milestone of 10,000 contacts - in chronological order based on the dates they were entered.  It's like travelling back in time, remembering when a certain person was entered and thinking back to why.  Were they friends or family?  A new customer?  A vendor?  A potential employee?  Well, whatever the situation, it brings a smile to my face.

I'll touch base more on our celebration of 15 years of quality and service in the future.  For now, as always, a big thank you to all our valued customers and hard-working staff, as we look forward to another 15 years!

Doug

Tags: Masters Touch | Doug Masters | 15 Years Anniversary | Customer Service | Customer Satisfaction | Home Remodel And Rebuild | Design | Painting | Carpentry | Roofing | Kitchen And Bath Remodel | Medfield | Norfolk | Walpole | Millis | Dover | Sherborn | Westwood | Needham | Newton | Weston | Wellesly | Natick | Holliston | Massachusetts | MA | MASS | Metrowest

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Our spring and summer 2012 production schedule for larger projects is filling up quickly. 

This is one of the more popular times of the year for major renovations such as whole house remodels, additions, new kitchens, and similar larger jobs.  When school is out for summer, many families are able to relocate for a couple of months, which makes major construction less intrusive into daily life.

It's not too late to book Masters Touch for spring and summer jobs by any means, but given the outlook for the residential construction industry in Massachusetts heading into 2012, it would be wise to get your deposit in before the end of the year to secure your place.

This is also an opportunity to thank all of our loyal customers who continue to hire us for new projects at their home and refer us to their family, friends, and coworkers.  We really appreciate it and are thankful that you trust us enough to refer us.

Doug

Tags: Masters Touch | Doug Masters | Spring Schedule 2012 | Summer Schedule 2012 | Home Remodel And Repair | Customer Satisfaction | Kitchen And Bath Remodel | Customer Bookings | Customer Referals | Home Improvement | Medfield | Norfolk | Walpole | Millis | Dover | Sherborn | Westwood | Needham | Newton | Weston | Wellesly | Natick | Holliston | Massachusetts | MA | MASS | Metrowest

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Masters Touch abides by a set of core values that we take very seriously and we try our best to follow them each and every day. 

Having been on the receiving end of poor business practices in the past, and realizing that we are often working for families who are spending more on one project than they will spend on almost anything else for the rest of their lives, I understand that our clients expect exceptional value, high quality craftsmanship, and unmatched service.  These represent a holy trinity for any business. 

That said, we, like all people, do make mistakes.  I cannot and will not fault my staff for making an honest effort yet, unfortunately, making a mistake.  It happens.  It's how you handle a mistake or difficult situation that sets you apart from the competition.

Still, many of our customers do not appreciate the concept of core values.  As soon as something  goes wrong, the heavy artillery comes out. 

It usually goes something like this:  "I'm telling all of my friends and anyone who will listen, be it online or on Facebook, and anywhere else I can think of, to trash your company name.  I expect more from you.  You are charging more than the other company!  You should have called me back last night after 9 PM when I left a message that there was an issue.  I cannot believe you didn't get back to me until 6:45 AM the next day!" 

And on and on and on...

I try my best to protect the Masters Touch staff from this type of client, but some sneak through the cracks.  In fact, we check out customers as much as they check us out before we work together.  As the owner, I expect to deal with this type of situation from time to time, but I don't feel that the sales team, office team, or production team deserve to be berated by customers who fly off the handle due to minor issues, which are a normal part of everyday life.

Today, a heartfelt thanks to all of our great customers who "get it" and who appreciate the hard work and effort of our entire team, and who treat everybody from the stockboy to the owner with the appropriate respect.

Doug

Tags: Masters Touch | Doug Masters | Home Design And Remodel | Customer Service | Customer Satisfaction | Core Values | Kitchen Remodel | Painting | Roofing | Home Improvement | Medfield | Norfolk | Walpole | Millis | Dover | Sherborn | Westwood | Needham | Newton | Weston | Wellesly | Natick | Holliston | Massachusetts | MA | MASS | Metrowest

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Some great stories to start off the week:

We are just about to paint the exterior of a home for a woman.  She INSISTS on Benjamin Moore Paint (one of their lower-end products too!) even though we recommended a premium paint that costs more than double and has a great track record.  

I politely asked her, "Why do you want that paint so badly?"  Without missing a beat she answered, "Because my hair dresser recommended it."

We're bidding work for a highend master bathroom.  Our designer has come up with an amazing design that will really compliment the rest of this well appointed home, worth at least $1.5 million.  The wife is on board, where do we sign up?   The husband, well, not so much.  "Can you please break down the pricing by trade?  I'd like to hire my unemployed neighbor for $15.00 an hour to do the painting. I know he won't do a nice job like your guys, but I cannot afford the project otherwise." 

Really?  Well then, hop in your $100K plus import vehicle and head to the Home Depot and have fun buying your own paint.  I'll spend that day with my family, thank you very much.

Answer from a client as to why they are not hiring us for an exterior painting and repair project:  "We know you'll do the best job and it will last the longest, but we're hiring a crew of illegals.  I know they don't have insurance but their price is just too good to pass up.  We really need to save the extra money so we can afford the payments on our second home in Vermont."

A customer calls for an "insurance quote" from last winter's storm damage.  He needs an assessment and thorough write up of interior damage so he can submit it to his insurance company for reimbursement.  In the last several years we've bid full exterior, several other interior projects, and small construction work.  He didn't hire us for any of those.  We told him we we're interested in bidding the miscellaneous insurance work. 

"But I'm a loyal customer," he replied.  "How can you say no?"

Folks, these are all true stories.  We deal with all kinds of people out there, and for the most part we grin and bear it, but sometimes the things people say to us are very insulting and condescending.  It's these people that  make us value our GREAT and LOYAL customers even more.  Thank you to everyone who treats the Masters Touch team with the same respect and dignity that we show you.  To the folks out there who would like to demean our staff and the value of the hard work our team brings to your home, please, find somewhere else to shop.  Life is way too short to be dealing with your misery.

Doug

Tags: Masters Touch | Doug Masters | Exterior Painting | Interior Painting | Benjamin Moore | Customer Satisfaction | Home Depot | Construction | Loyal Customers | Massachusetts | MA | MASS | Metro West

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I wear a lot of hats at Masters Touch.  So what's my favorite job here?

There's nothing more satisfying than visiting with a family after completing a project.  When we help people realize their dream of a beautiful home and deliver projects on time and on budget, everybody wins.

Today I visited a client in Millis and another in Norfolk, both of whom we designed and built dream kitchens.  To have a cup of coffee with a satisfied client and hear how excited they are about the work we've done, and how much they enjoyed the process and loved our designers and craftsman . . . well, nothing beats that.  It's why I founded Masters Touch.

While I was in Norfolk, I dropped by a home that we're finishing up with a beautiful exterior repaint today, just in time for a big graduation party.  The place looks stunning, and the clients were very grateful that we have the project done before their party.  It's one less thing they have to worry about as they plan the big event and, as always, they loved our crew.

Today, after multiple visits with satisfied clients, amazing perfect 10 weather, and a day off tomorrow, I must say it was a great week here at Masters Touch.

Doug

Tags: Masters Touch | Doug Masters | Painting | Design Build | Builder | Kitchen Remodeling | Home Improvement | Customer Service | Customer Satisfaction | Massachusetts | MA | MASS | Metro West

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Masters Touch Criticizes Angie’s List

I would be interested to know how many of you reading this are aware of or use the services provided by Angie’s List.  For those not in the know Angie’s List is an online review source, which also publishes a monthly magazine.  According to the site’s homepage Angie’s List has over one million members and provides member reviews in over five hundred categories including home improvement companies.

For a while I used Angie’s List to further promote Masters Touch but I quickly came to realize the duplicitous nature of the site.  In a nutshell anyone who is a member of Angie’s List can post, sans offensive language, pretty much anything they want in their online reviews.  Reviews, good or bad, are also published in the magazine.  Unfortunately anything truly does mean anything.

One would assume the screening process Angie’s List uses would be intensive in order to promote good relationships with companies willing to advertise with them and to keep fraudulent complaints at a minimum.  Angie’s List does not work that way.

Basically, Angie’s List rates a company on customer responses alone.  A negative response, which will appear at the top of the company’s review space, brings the resulting grade down.  Only subsequent good ratings will alter the grade.  In other words anyone who is a member of Angie’s List can post as many bad reviews as they please to destroy not only a company’s grade but, in a very real sense, its reputation.

In response to my query regarding this and how I felt it was unfair, an Angie’s List representative told me that I should look into asking my customers to join the site and post their positive remarks in order to bury the negative ones.  In other words, they wanted me to recruit new members for them at their initial membership price and monthly fee.  I immediately balked at this and the representative then reminded me that in order to advertise with them my grade would have to increase.  Furthermore, there was nothing they could do about the possible fraudulent reports that I had personally rebuked.

Masters Touch recently came under fire by several dubious complaints, of which I responded in kind.  The most egregious of which actually contended that in 2006 one of our workers side-swiped the customer’s neighbor’s car.  There is no record or documentation of this ever happening – no email from the customer in our records, no police report, nothing.  In fact, after the job was completed the customer sent us a glowingly positive email saying that, “We have really been enjoying the basement and have gotten so many compliments on it!” 

Still, years later, this person decides to fabricate an entire scenario that never occurred and savage the company.  For what reason, I do not know.  Despite my protestations, and exhaustive itemizing of every exaggeration and outright lie, this posting remains under the Masters Touch banner on the Angie’s List website – and our grade continues to suffer because of it.

According to Angie’s List by-laws they will only remove possible fraudulent reports if they believe it to be untrue, the person who posted chooses to remove it, or the report is dissolved during a complaint resolution.  This so-called complaint resolution is a farce as I personally called and presented Angie’s List representatives with documented proof that the complaints filed against Masters Touch were not only false but simply the ramblings of late night bloggers who enjoy stirring the pot.  Furthermore none of these people responded to my retorts, which Angie’s List did publish.  Apparently because they disappeared into the ether a proper complaint resolution never occurred so all of those negative rantings remain, crippling our rating – which, again, precludes Masters Touch from even advertising on the site.  To put it bluntly, no matter how successful I am in defending my good name and the reputation of Masters Touch I have been left out in the cold and all Angie’s List has done in response is shrug its collective shoulders.

In the end, Masters Touch has severed all ties with Angie’s List so if this service is one you use or are familiar with please keep all this in mind if you decide to peruse the customer responses under the Masters Touch banner.  Angie’s List is not the final say on a company’s worth.  In fact it is a disingenuous operation improperly monitored and Masters Touch will no longer have anything to do with them.

Doug

Tags: Masters Touch | Doug Masters | Customer Satisfaction | Customer Review | Customer Rating | Company Rebuttal | Complaint Resolution | Angie Hicks

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